05 October 2012 12:17 AM

Why it's time we went to war with the grey squirrel

If there was a band of illegal immigrants that cost our
economy an estimated £14m per annum, carried a fatal disease that killed off
most of the indigenous population and threatened our wildlife and woodlands
too, wouldn’t you be keen to go to war with them?

The culprit? The grey
squirrel, one of the UK’s most invasive and destructive alien species. They have devastated our native Red Squirrel whose
population has been reduced to barely 120,000.The reds are now restricted to
Cumbria, Northumberland, parts of Scotland, the Isle of Wight, Brownsea Island
and Anglesey, with the continuing population decline experts predict their
extinction on the British mainland in about 15-20 years.

These cuddly, cute little fluffy invading darlings, with
their bushy tails are prolific breeders with their population estimated at 5
million and rising, are killing off our reds with alarming speed. How? As the grey squirrel carries the squirrel
pox virus to which it is immune but our native red is not. The two species
cannot co-habit.

Whilst disease is the fatal element, competition for food,
the greater size, more prolific breeding capabilities, wider habitat
adaptability and omnivorous diet enables the grey population to expand
relentlessly.

Their history is interesting. They first set foot on our soil in in the
late 1800’s, brought over from North America by the Duke of Bedford. The Forestry Commission attempted to eradicate
them by conventional means and offered a bounty of sixpence a tail in 1953, but
the program descended into farce, as people started to farm them for the bounty
and it was stopped in 1958.

It is now widely believed that the demise in our songbird
population is due to mammalian and avian predation that has been allowed to go
unchecked. At the forefront, the grey
squirrel is raiding nests and eating both eggs and fledglings, particularly
amidst garden, hedge and woodland habitats.

Added to that, according to the Invasive Species Specialist
Group, as being within the top 100 of the world’s most invasive species, the
grey squirrel has become the primary reason for extensive destruction in
woodland and forestry today. The grey
strips the bark from trees, causing severe degradation and often death; the
damage affects not only saplings but also mature trees. Trees with only minor damage are
automatically more prone to disease infecting them through the wounds. Concern is growing that the spread of phytophthora ramorum, which causes
extensive damage and mortality to trees in Britain, is closely linked to grey
squirrels. Anecdotal evidence by people
who manage our woodlands suggests that the squirrels themselves are carrying
the disease spores from tree to tree.

My friend Toby Coke, a forester who owns and manages what is
the oldest example of Continuous Cover Forestry (no clear felling ever takes
place) in the British Isles has called for more to be done to protect our
woodlands and our native reds. Together
with Nigel Housden, a wildlife photographer, who has captured the pictures in
this article, they have worked hard to bring this to the public’s attention and
to seek government action. The reds, Toby says, do not strip bark, and unless
the greys are eradicated there will ultimately be no high forest in this
country, as well as no red squirrels. (The reds were also persecuted by misguided
Scottish landowners in the late 19th century.)

So, what is being done about this invasion? Sadly, very little. About eight years ago the Forestry Commission
backed research into control by immuno contraception. This was basically a bait fed drug that if
ingested made the squirrel infertile.
There was some success with this in the laboratory but not in the field. Funding for this project is now drying
up. However, more research is being put
into finding a vaccine against the pox virus by the charity Wildlife Ark Trust. I wish them well in their endeavours.

Very little has been done to curb these voracious creatures,
so more drastic action needs to be taken.
The urban public probably do not realise it but shooting, poisoning and
trapping is being carried out continuously and by definition must go on in
perpetuity. This is not a form of sport, but an extremely expensive necessity,
that is not sustainable in the long term. It is carried out to minimise damage
to woodland and in the buffer zones where greys are advancing against the reds
it is simply slowing down the inevitable.
Before the townies and animals rights lobby start screaming ‘no’, the
culling of grey squirrels cannot be likened to the controversial culling of
badgers. Unlike badgers, the greys are
not an indigenous species.

The only way the grey could be eradicated is biologically
and funding should be made available for scientists to find the most humane and
efficient way to achieve this. Whilst I
welcome visits from our US human cousins, this little export needs to go,
otherwise our sweet little reds will die out.

I have been doing some investigation into what can be done
and found that UKIP’s MEP for the East of
England and spokesman for Agricultural & Rural Affairs, Stuart Agnew stated
that UKIP has lead the way on this issue and is determined to restore the
balance of nature to preserve our native species and has included the
eradication of our most destructive and invasive alien species into their Wildlife & Forestry policy. In
addition UKIP will instigate a government funded study into the relationship
between raptors and their prey species, which may then require an amendment to
the 1981 Countryside and Wildlife Act, so that remedial action could be carried
out. Stuart is a farmer himself and has garnered the support to have this made part
of UKIP’s official Agricultural & Rural Affairs Policy. Pundits (opposition) say that UKIP have few
policies but this is not so. As well as
their considered policies on Education, Defence, Energy, Immigration, and so
forth they are also tackling issues that support our bio diversity, support our
native species and do not pander to the animal rights lobby.

No doubt the pundits will be saying that this is going to
cost a great deal of money. They are correct. UKIP would fund this from the
existing DEFRA, Natural England and Environment Agency budgets, with any of
their departments associated with climate change being axed and the funds put
to better use in implementing these policies.

Earlier this year DEFRA contributed £100 million to the
International Climate Fund (part of a staggering £2.9 billion package) to
tackle deforestation in developing countries. Should we not be getting our own
house in order before we lecture others on how to run their affairs? The
arrogant hypocrisy of our government is well illustrated by how they have
slashed the budget for our Forest Research scientists to a figure thought to be
about £100,000 pounds a year. These are the people responsible for tackling and
minimising the impact of the very serious tree diseases and pests coming into
this country, largely as a result of global trade. Apparently our forests and
native flora and fauna are of no importance to the supposedly “greenest”
government ever.

If this government have the courage to tackle bovine TB by sanctioning
the somewhat controversial badger culling, then they can certainly save our red
squirrels.

Share this article:

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this weblog until the moderator has approved them. They must not exceed 500 words. Web links cannot be accepted, and may mean your whole comment is not published.

JANICE ATKINSON-SMALL

Janice is a director of a new, centre-right think tank, WomenOn ... which seeks to challenge the left dominated Guardianista feminist view of the world of women which does not represent ordinary women. Women On … researches the issues facing women today, and promotes ideas and policies which enable all women to reach their full potential – economically, socially, culturally and politically, but not at the expense of men.
In politics she was the director of Conservative Action for Electoral Reform (but did not support AV) and had provided communications for MPs, MEPs and campaign groups. She stood for the Conservative Party in the 2010 General Election in Batley and Spen but is now a member of UKIP.
Prior to becoming involved in politics, Janice ran her own successful marketing communications business. She is divorced with two teenage sons and is about to re-marry.
www.womenon.org